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Crusader Kings II is the sequel to Paradox's slightly broken, but oh so endearing 2004 game Crusader Kings. Unlike most of their other games, the focus of Crusader Kings is on creating a dynasty (like we saw in Sengoku and EU: Rome) and not a country. That adds in some RPG elements that I find make the game more enjoyable as it makes for better stories. It's more of a people and war management game than it is an economic simulator.

I wish CK2 had some way to tell at a glance each person's opinions of other noteworthy people. This is my first Paradox game, though I come from a strong Civ background, and in Civ you can just pull up the diplomacy screen and check the colors of the lines that link all the character portraits to gauge the strength of relationships. CK2 has far too many characters operating at once for an all-inclusive relationship matrix. But a limited matrix, one with filters to show the selected person's relations to his or her family/vassals/liege/allies/neighbors/former foes/members of the same court/etc, would really help.

Right click on a character portrait, and then right click again on the icon that pops up on the left. You'll see three more options, one of which lets you star a character as interesting, and one of which lets you see that character's relationship with every other character in the game, after the manner of your own relationship tab.

My rule of Navarra came to a sad end. After I captured Aragon, the fat Frenchie King decided the temptation for Aragon and Zaragoza was just too tempting. Since he owned most of France, his military was overwhelming. I had to concede, losing the two territories. I decided to press my claim on Viscaya and took it. So my kingdom was reduced, but doing okay. Then I died.

My son, Quintin II, took over. Except he was in an Emir's prison! How? I have no idea. I don't remember anything about my son being in prison. Probably he was leading an army at some point? After a bit of fumbling with my regent, I discovered I could ransom him. Problem is, no one liked him at all. Eventually my brother got uppity and took everything away from me, leaving me a sh*tty town in Zaragoza and no money.

Eventually Quintin II died broke and sad and... nothing. The game didn't transfer to my heir. I was just dead and unable to interact with anything. No "game over" screen either.

?

I resigned and my final score was 4000 something.

Certis: Quintin is both smart and attractive.

Fedaykin98: Good lord, I wouldn't have expected brilliance like that from that nemeslut Quintin Stone!

Yonder: It's weird to say this, but Quintin Stone may be the wisest person here.

Me neither! But found this on the CK2 wiki, while looking for what the game looks like when you lose.

Edit: It should look like this

Edit the Second: Quintin, you should load up you last save game and just run the game, see what happens. At some point either the game will figure out you are dead and end the game or transfer to your heir.

Try William the Conqueror. Great fun putting England back together and then hanging on to it as your family degenerates into hunchbacked drooling backstabbers. Pro Tip - After you win the war, or if you start right after William won, stop the game and list your vassals in ascending order of their respect for you. Hover over the number for the ones that dislike you, figure out what will change their minds, and give it to them. Cuts down on revolts immensely.

The two sides to every story are true and false, not yours and theirs. Facts are not political; lies are. - Deven Green (Mrs. Betty Bowers)

I view Spain in the Moorish years as a puzzle. I've yet to survive the onslaught, even with the help of France. Almost did it once, but the French were attacked by, I dunno, Holland or something and the Moorish tide rushed in all the way to Catalonia...

The two sides to every story are true and false, not yours and theirs. Facts are not political; lies are. - Deven Green (Mrs. Betty Bowers)

I started once as the King of Galacia. I promptly used the claims I had on Leon and Navarre to subjugate them. With that power base and some Muslim infighting I ended up Emperor of Hispania.

One of the tricks is to avoid holy wars. De jure claims don't tend to ally the entire peninsula against you.

I'm loving my current game. Started as the duke of Apulia. Eventually became HRE, holding almost all of the French Empire, as well as almost half the Byzantine Empire. Some prick colluded with Germany to usurp me -- but died two years later and I took it back during the succession crisis. I quite enjoyed revoking the Kingdom of Bohemia from his son.

Now to finish off the Prince of France holding Orleans, and kick the Muslims out of Poland. Then we'll bring Burgundy and Croatia back into the fold. Then -- who knows.

Hypatian wrote:

Stone thongs are almost as important to preventing the spread of elves as lead toys are.

I just started up a game after a long hiatus. Some highlights as the Duke of Munster:

- While the Duke tried to take over the County of Desmond, the Duke's vassal and martial, the Earl of Ormond, started up a faction and declared independence. (Factions are new since I last played.)
- The Duke already had an adult son and heir, but he married the duchess of Tuscany and had two more sons with her. His first son died (under mysterious circumstances) and his wife, pregnant with their third child, committed suicide after he basically told her none of her sons would be as good as the son who died.
- The Duke's new 10 year old heir, thanks to his mother's death, has become Duke of Tuscany and is already at war.
- After marrying a second time, the Duke decided to have an affair with his spymaster's wife. After he broke off the affair, the duke was killed in suspicious circumstances after his carriage jettisoned off a cliff.

I gave my only son and heir a duchy in Ireland I conquered. I'm slowly trying to take the whole shebang. I didn't really mean to give him his own independent territories but oh well.

Today I found out the ungrateful cur was plotting to kill me. I asked him to stop.

I fabricated a claim in the county south of me and attacked them. I asked my son to help but he declined. So while I'm in there fighting, my jerk of a son declares war on me! The nerve! A Saxon band of mercenaries helped me fight on both fronts, and then when I'd whipped the Duke to my south, I turned my attention to my son's land.

With the new county in the south, I had enough land to declare myself King of Ireland! Take that, whelp, I'm not just your dad, I'm also your KING!

THEN I DIED OF OLD AGE!

Yes, my ungrateful, ambitious little jerk of a son inherits everything and now I get to play as him.

Certis: Quintin is both smart and attractive.

Fedaykin98: Good lord, I wouldn't have expected brilliance like that from that nemeslut Quintin Stone!

Yonder: It's weird to say this, but Quintin Stone may be the wisest person here.

My new king had some trouble at first. No one liked him. What do you expect? He launched a war against his own father and most of his new vassals. But slowly he began to turn things around. Gifts and titles to keep the new vassals happy. Dear ol' mum as spy master. He got married and had two boys.

Upon rekindling the flame with his queen, he became lustful and DIED DURING SEX.

Oh dear.

His 14 year-old boy then took the mantle. Chasing butterflies, he fell off a wall and DIED under suspicious circumstances. Maaaaan, this isn't looking good.

Power transfers to his 8 year-old brother. But this time it works. Despite an incompetent regent, he keeps everything under control until he's old enough to take the reins. He marries a Swedish princess. When his most churlish vassal rebels, he crushes him despite the duke's external support and then has the rebellious duke executed!

Now I run all of Ireland except Ulster, which is in the hands of the King of Scotland and that guy has a lot of troops.

Certis: Quintin is both smart and attractive.

Fedaykin98: Good lord, I wouldn't have expected brilliance like that from that nemeslut Quintin Stone!

Yonder: It's weird to say this, but Quintin Stone may be the wisest person here.

My new king had some trouble at first. No one liked him. What do you expect? He launched a war against his own father and most of his new vassals. But slowly he began to turn things around. Gifts and titles to keep the new vassals happy. Dear ol' mum as spy master. He got married and had two boys.

Upon rekindling the flame with his queen, he became lustful and DIED DURING SEX.

Oh dear.

His 14 year-old boy then took the mantle. Chasing butterflies, he fell off a wall and DIED under suspicious circumstances. Maaaaan, this isn't looking good.

Power transfers to his 8 year-old brother. But this time it works. Despite an incompetent regent, he keeps everything under control until he's old enough to take the reins. He marries a Swedish princess. When his most churlish vassal rebels, he crushes him despite the duke's external support and then has the rebellious duke executed!

Now I run all of Ireland except Ulster, which is in the hands of the King of Scotland and that guy has a lot of troops.

My new king had some trouble at first. No one liked him. What do you expect? He launched a war against his own father and most of his new vassals. But slowly he began to turn things around. Gifts and titles to keep the new vassals happy. Dear ol' mum as spy master. He got married and had two boys.

Upon rekindling the flame with his queen, he became lustful and DIED DURING SEX.

Ok, I'm convinced, and my previous PC project just went down. Learning this game goes to the top of the pile as of now.

Played a while as William the conqueror yesterday. Went pretty well, had one small rebellion easily put down, then a large one by Duke of Northumberland that was eventually secured by white peace. I bought him off with many titles and got the numbers looking good.

Then while expanding into Wales William fell in battle. Drippy son Robert took over and England just fell apart in a few days.

My new king had some trouble at first. No one liked him. What do you expect? He launched a war against his own father and most of his new vassals. But slowly he began to turn things around. Gifts and titles to keep the new vassals happy. Dear ol' mum as spy master. He got married and had two boys.

Upon rekindling the flame with his queen, he became lustful and DIED DURING SEX.

Oh dear.

His 14 year-old boy then took the mantle. Chasing butterflies, he fell off a wall and DIED under suspicious circumstances. Maaaaan, this isn't looking good.

Power transfers to his 8 year-old brother. But this time it works. Despite an incompetent regent, he keeps everything under control until he's old enough to take the reins. He marries a Swedish princess. When his most churlish vassal rebels, he crushes him despite the duke's external support and then has the rebellious duke executed!

Now I run all of Ireland except Ulster, which is in the hands of the King of Scotland and that guy has a lot of troops.

Just save some money and hire mercs to deal with the guys armies - after all, they can only jump directly to Ulster. Your coffers should be filling up nicely if you haven't given out all your counties to vassals. Wait until he deals with a rebellion or something, perhaps incite one using your chancellor.
I am currently trying to pry Duchy of the Isles from the man and that guy should carry "Heavy Buttkicker" trait badge...

It's easy to play piano: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time.

Just save some money and hire mercs to deal with the guys armies - after all, they can only jump directly to Ulster. Your coffers should be filling up nicely if you haven't given out all your counties to vassals. Wait until he deals with a rebellion or something, perhaps incite one using your chancellor.
I am currently trying to pry Duchy of the Isles from the man and that guy should carry "Heavy Buttkicker" trait badge...

Damn mercs were all hired already.

Certis: Quintin is both smart and attractive.

Fedaykin98: Good lord, I wouldn't have expected brilliance like that from that nemeslut Quintin Stone!

Yonder: It's weird to say this, but Quintin Stone may be the wisest person here.